Axle-cutter



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

v4. G. SAXTON. AXLE GUTTER.

No. 554,034. f 1244911464 Feb. 4, 1896.

/////// lmnurll" INVENTOR;

A.v G. SAXTON.

AXLB GUTTER.

l (No Model.)v 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Patented Feb. 4,1896.

Fl E' I7.

WITNESS-E@ INVENTR:

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UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

AUGUSTUS C. SAXTON, OF BETIIEL, ASSIGNOR OF TW'O-TIIIRDS TO JOHN DODD AND CHARLES F. SPENCER, OF DANBURY, CONNECTICUT.

AxLE-CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 554,034, dated February 4, 1896.

Application lediMay 28, 1895i Serial No. 550,936. (No model.)

necticut, have invented certain new and use-I ful Improvements in Axle-Cutters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the class of handoperated portable machines for cutting or trimming metal axle arms or spindles while the same are on the vehicle.

It is well understood by those who use wagons that the ends of the hub-boxes wear away from the access of grit between the stationary and rotating parts, thus necessitating the constant application of washers between said parts, as these latter also wear away rapidly. To obviate the looseness and endwise movement of the hub-box on the axle-arm, due to this shortening of the box by abrasion,

it has been the practice, to some extent, to cut.

away the end of the arm so as to shorten it, and this requires, rst, the cutting back of the shoulder or the arm where the latter is reduced to form the screw-threaded tip for the nut, then to cut oft the end of said tip to the proper length, and then to continue the screw-thread on the tip down t0 the newlyformed shoulder. My machine eiiects all of these objects efliciently and rapidly, and it is simple in construction and easily operated by any one with very little experience.

In the drawings which illustrate an embodiment of the invention, Figure l is a longitudinal axial section of the machine, which is shown in place on the axle-arm or spindle of a wagon. Fig. 2 is an end view of the machine, showing the end seen at the left hand in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is an end view showing the end seen at the right hand in Fig. l. Fig. 4: is a transverse section taken on line m4 m4 in Fig. l. Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are respectively a side view, face view, and plan of the cutterhead o'r tool-holder detached and showing also the screw-cutting dies in 'place therein. Fig. 8 shows the feed-screw detached, and Fig. 9 is a plan view of the feed-sleeve detached.

In the principal views, A represents the axle-arm which is being operated on.' This axle-arm is clamped in a self-centering clutch similar to that of a lathe, and comprising as its essentials a ring or frame l and clampingjaws 2, mounted in said frame and furnished with bevel gear-wheels 3, fixed on screwthreaded spindles 4, mounted in the frame. These latter screw into and 'operate said jaws and a toothed rim 5 in the hollow of the framegears with the several wheels 3. The squared ends of the spindles 4 project from the frame and any suitable wrench 6 may be employed to set the jaws firmly on the axlearm A. As all of the jaws 2 move simulta neously, they center the obj ect clamped with respect to the ring-frame.

Mounted on the frame l are posts 7, preferably three in number, and fixed to these posts is a frame S. Mounted in the frame S is aY feed-sleeve 9, in which is rotatively mountedthe arbor l0 of the cutter-head 1l. The sleeve 9 is adapted to move endwise in the frame 8, but is prevented from rotating therein by a spline l2, and the arbor l0 is adapted to rotate in the sleeve 9, but is prevented from moving endwise or l0ngitudinally therein by a screw or stud 13 set in the sleeve 9, its end or tip engaging a circumferential groove 14 in the arbor IO. On the outer end of the arbor is a square, adapted to receive a crank l0n for rotating the cutterhead by hand.

The cutter-head ll is adapted to receive and hold one or more cutters l5 15X, which are set in mortises in the wings on the cutter-head and secured therein by screws 16 when properly adjusted. j Vhen the arbor of the cutter-head is rotated, the sleeve 9, carrying the cuttenhead and its arbor, is fed forward automatically by means I will now describe.

In the side of the sleeve 9 is a lute or shallow concavity extending lengthwise of the sleeve and having cut in ita screw-thread 9X. (Seen best in Fig. 9.) Mounted rotatively in the frame S is a sleeve 17, in which iseccentrically mounted the arbor 18X of a screw 18, adapted to' engage the screw 9X in the sleeve 9. This screw 18 is housed within a hollow part of the frame 8, and it may be depressed into gear with the screw 9X, as seen in Fig. l, or lifted out of mesh therewith, as indicated in Fig. 4, by a partial rotation of the sleeve 9.

lThis partial rotation of said sleeve is effected IOO by means of a pin 19, set therein and playing in a guide-slot 20 in the inclosing frame. The mutilated screw 9X is, in reality, only a series of teeth on the sleeve 9, and the screw-threads may as well be a series of teeth. The construction shown, however, is strong and compact.

On the outer end of the arbor 18X is secured a ratchet-wheel 2l, and mounted to swing radially about the said arbor is a pawl-arm 22, to which arm is pivoted a pawl 23, the nose of which engages the teeth of the ratchetwheel 21. The pawl-arm extends down by the arbor of the cutter-head (see Fig. 2) and is pressed up thereto bya spring24, mounted on the frame S. A spring 23X on the pawl-arm keeps the pawl in engagement. Then the arbor 10 is rotated, a longitudinally-extending feather or rib 25 thereon takes under the pawlarm 22 and by pressing it outward advances the pawl, thus imparting a partial rotation to the ratchet-wheel. Vhen this feather passes, the spring 24 retracts the pawl. This intermittent rotation of the ratchet-wheel imparts, of course, the same movement to the screw 18, which thus feeds the sleeve 9 and the cutter-head during the cutting operation.

I will now briey explain how the machine is used. The nut being removed from the axle, the hub pushed back to the shoulder and the axle-arm marked to designate the amount to be cut away at the shoulder, the axle is supportedand the wheel removed. The clutch of the machine is now passed over the arm Asay to about the extent seen in Fig. 1 and the jaws of the clutch made to clamp on it firmly. The axle-arm will now be accurately aligned with the arbor of the cutterhead. The cutter 15 is'now adjusted so that its cutting-edge just clears the thread on the screw on. the reduced end d of the axle-arm, the other cutter 15 (if two be employed) being withdrawn or removed. Rotation of the cutter-head causes the cutter 15 to cut down the shoulder dx on the axle-arm back to the point desired. After cutting back the shoulder the screw 18 is disengaged bythe pin 19, the cutter-head is drawn back to the startingpoint, (the position seen in Fig. 1,) and the cutter 15X set into the axis of the machine for cutting down the tip a of the arm to the same extent as the shoulder.

After cutting down the axles of the vehicle as above described, it will be necessary to cut the screw-threads on the ends a of the axlearms down to the new shoulders formed. This will be done bythe means I will now describe.

Referring to Figs. 5, G and 7, in a holder 26 is mounted a pair of screw-cutting dies 27, adapted to fit the standard-screw on axles. This frame has screws 2S for setting up the dies on the screw, and it is made to fit snugly in a seat between the arms on the cutter-head 1 l, where it is held, preferably, bya set-screw 29. In order to facilitate the placing of the die-frame in its seat, a stop 30 is provided on the cutter-head, Fig. 5, to arrest the frame when it is in place. This stop maybe merely the projecting head of a screw, as here shown.

In cutting the screw the feed-screw will be thrown out of gear, so that the dies may feed themselves in the usual way, proportionate to the pitch of the screw.

The camming-in 25 on the arbor 10 is elongated in order that it may be in position to act on the pawl-arm 22, whatever maybe the position of the cutter-head.

Having thus described my invention, I Claim- 1. In an axle-cutter, the combination with a device for clamping on the axle-arm and a frame 8, secured to said clamping device, of the feed-sleeve 9, mounted in said frame and adapted to be moved'to and fro therein, the cutter-head, the arbor of the cutter-head, rotatively `mounted in the feed-sleeve and stopped against longitudinal movement therein, a feed-screw, rotatively mounted in the head and in gear with screw-threads orteeth on the feed-sleeve, and a ratchet mechanism, intermediate the arbor of the feed-screw and the arbor of the cutter-head, whereby the cutter-head is fed up to its work automatically by the rotation of said head, substantially as set forth.

2. In an axle-cutter, the combination with a device for clamping on the axle-armand a frame 8, securedto said clamping device, of the sleeve 9, mounted in a sliding bearing in said frameand provided with teeth 9X, the sleeve 17, rotatively mounted in the frame 8, the feed-screw 18, the arbor of which is` eccentrically and rotatively mounted in the sleeve 17, with its axis parallel with the arbor of the cutter-head, the pin 19, set in the sleeve 17, and adapted to playin a guide-slot in the l inclosing frame, whereby the sleeve 17 may l be rocked and the screw 18 be put into or out l of engagement with the teeth 9X on the sleeve 1 9, theI ratchet-wheel on the arbor of the feedl screw, the radially-swinging pawl-arm on said l arbor, the spring-pawl carried by said arm and engaging the teeth of the ratchet-wheel,

and the feather on the arbor of the cutterl head, adapted to actuate the pawl-arm and l pawl, substantially as set forth. 3. In an axle-cutter, the combinationwith l a self-centering clutch to clamp on the axlearm and aframe secured to said clutch, of the 5 cutter-head, having its arbor axially aligned .l with the clutch, of the feed-sleeve mounted i in and adapted to slide in said frame and carrying the arbor of the cutter-head, a feedscrew, rotatively and eccentrically mounted in a rocking sleeve 17 in the frame, said screw being adapted to engage teeth on the feedi sleeve, means for rocking said sleeve 17 to put the feed-screw into or out of gear with the feed-sleeve, and a ratchet mechanism, ntermediaie the arbor of the feed-screw and l the arbor of the cutter-head for automatically l feeding the latter, substantially as set forth. i l. In an axle-cutter, the combination with frame 8 parallel with the arbor of the cutter- IOO IIO

a clutch device to clamp on the axle, a frame fixed to said clutch device, a cutter-head having its arbor aligned With said clutch device, a screw mechanism for automatically feeding 5 said cutter-head duri ng the operation of cutting down the axle, means for throwing said i feeding mechanism out of operative connection with the cutter-head during the operation of cutting the screw-thread on the aXle,

1o and a die-frame and screw-cutting dies adapted to fit in a seat formed in the cutter-head, the latter being also provided With a seat to receive a cutter, substantially as set forth.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presenee of two subscribing I5 Witnesses.

AUGUSTUS C. SAXTON. Witnesses:

ANNA M. ROBINSON, HENRY M. ROBINSON. 

